The week in Ronda Rousey news took another turn late Tuesday, as a new video interview with her mother, Dr. AnnMaria DeMars, saw her rip apart Rousey’s MMA coach Edmond Tarverdyan.
DeMars verbally tore down Tarverdyan as both a coach and a person, and said her feelings had been shared with her daughter numerous times before she decided to say something publicly.
“I told Ronda, ‘I’m not going to be quiet about this anymore.’ He’s a bad person and people should not go there. And if he wants to sue me, that’s my honest opinion,” DeMars said (transcribed by MMAFighting.com). “…I think Edmond is a terrible coach and I will say it publicly. I think he’s a terrible coach. I think he hit the lottery when Ronda walked in there. She was winning before she ever met him. She probably won 99 percent of the judo matches she ever fought in.
“She was one of the top athletes in the world when she walked in there and he wouldn’t even give her the time of day for months. Somebody like that is a terrible coach. And I think she stays there, because it’s like somebody pitches a no-hitter when they’re wearing red underwear and they wear that red underwear every day. I think it’s superstition and I would caution anybody from going there.”
Penick’s Analysis: Between the Travis Browne revelations and now this, it’s not been the greatest week for the Rousey camp. There have been other criticisms of Tarverdyan levied over the last few years, and his cornering advice has been derided at times as well; indeed, Rousey does what Rousey does, and Tarverdyan’s influence on her skill set may be minuscule. Now, Rousey herself may see things differently, and there’s a long and tumultuous history in her relationship with her mother, but this is probably not the types of distractions she wants to be dealing with a month out from her next title defense.
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